Hello everyone, this is my first story on Fan Fiction. Please leave comments!!

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At first, the soft knocking on Marlene's door was drowned out by her loud snoring. It was when the noise became frantic pounding that she finally awoke from her deep sleep. Mumbling under her breath, she tumbled off her bed and slumped to the ground. It's probably those pesky penguins again, she thought. At least this time they had the courtesy to knock.

"Hellooooo? Is anyone there?" A high-pitched feminine voice came from behind Marlene's door. Immediately Marlene perked up, curious about who it could be. She hadn't heard this voice before. Perhaps it was Darla the baboon…but what had happened to her Southern accent? It couldn't be Lulu; the voice didn't have a British accent to it, either. Maybe it was Kitka the falcon? No, this voice was softer; purer. Should Marlene answer it?

"I know you're there," the voice came again, a hint of humor in it. "Don't make me come in." The sentence ended with a huff of laughter.

Wait, Marlene thought. I know that voice. Eyes sparkling with excitement and hopes, she rushed toward the door, grasped the handle, and whipped it open. Before her eyes stood a slim, well-groomed Asian otter. The otter's fur pattern was almost exactly like Marlene's, except for a white star marking under her ice blue eyes. A golden chain hung around her neck; dangling from it was a shiny orange stone.

"Darlene!" Marlene shouted happily, throwing her arms around her sister, who giggled with pleasure.

"It's nice to see you again," Darlene said, slipping from Marlene's grip.

"How long are you visiting for?" Marlene asked.

Darlene shrugged. "I dunno. A couple days?"

Marlene shifted her weight to one side, thinking of what fun activity to do with her sister first. When the idea came to her head, she nearly leaped with excitement.

"Ooh, I have to introduce you to my friends!" She squealed, taking Darlene's paw and racing to the penguins' exhibit.

~*~*~*~

"I don't see any penguins," Darlene said as the two sisters stood on the tiny rock island in the middle of the penguin exhibit. Ignoring her sister's comment, Marlene kicked the silver fish dish to the side, and signaled for her to hop down.

"Down there?"

"Mmm-hmmm."

Darlene hesitated a moment, slowly edging toward the dark hole. She bent over to peer inside, but could see nothing, and only heard the soft murmurs of the penguins' voices. Slowly, she prepared to jump, edging forward a little more. But before she could turn back and ask Marlene to go first, she lost her balance. She stuck out her arms, waving them around in an attempt to gain her balance back, but as she swayed to her left, she ended up tumbling in.

Marlene slapped a paw to her forehead in embarrassment for her sister, then jumped in after her.

Darlene had landed with a thud, but had sprung back up on her feet as soon as she heard Marlene about to pounce on top of her. She turned to face the astonished penguins.

"There's…two of them?" Private questioned, turning to his leader for an answer.

"Hey guys!" Came Marlene's shrill voice as she greeted her flightless friends. She snorted with laughter. "Okay, guess which relative of mine is visiting for the next couple of days!"

All eyes darted to Darlene, who stood awkwardly in the corner. Unsure of what to do, Darlene gathered all her courage and took a step forward.

"I'm Darlene," she began. "Marlene's sister."

Skipper extended a flipper and introduced himself. "I'm Skipper, leader of this hard-core group."

Feeling more confident, Darlene shook his flipper with a smile. She then turned to a taller, intelligent looking penguin.

"And you are?" She asked. This penguin seemed nice, but there was a hint of shyness Darlene noticed in him.

"Kowalski," he said, without extending a flipper. Darlene nodded, looking deeper into his sapphire-colored eyes and trying to figure out his actual personality. Before she could open her mouth to speak again, Marlene turned her towards and odd looking penguin with a Mohawk and a crack on his beak.

"Oh dear, how did you get that crack?" Darlene asked, leaning in to get a closer look.

The unsocial penguin pulled away. Once he could see the confusion in Darlene's eyes, he twitched and muttered, "Rico."

Darlene stopped herself from throwing more questions at the confused bird and turned to the smallest penguin of the group.

"Oh, hello there!" Darlene said, kneeling down so she could look him in the eyes. "How cute."

Hearing Skipper's chuckle from behind her, Darlene stood back up.

"Private may be cute and cuddly," Skipper began. "But he can go commando on you in less than a heartbeat."

Darlene let out a huff of laughter and turned to face Skipper. Her sister was standing next to him.

"Darlene, why don't you tell us about yourself?" Skipper asked.

Darlene's eyes glimmered with excitement. "Alright, let's see…like, my interests?"

Skipper nodded.

Darlene thought a moment. "Well, I enjoy going on adventures."

"What zoo are you from, Darlene?" Private asked.

"I used to live in one of California's aquariums with Marlene, but they transferred me to the wild, and Marlene here."

Skipper nodded, taking her information in.

"Why don't you guys tell me about yourselves?" Darlene asked, her eyes darting toward Kowalski.

"Curious about Kowalski, eh?" Skipper observed. Darlene stopped herself from blushing, but instead shifted her weight to one side and looked away.

Skipper let out another chuckle. "I'm sure he'll show you some of this inventions." he looked towards Kowalski. "Won't you, Kowalski?"

So he's the science type of guy? Wait, what type of inventions? Darlene glanced over at him. The taller penguin paused a moment, thinking this over. Darlene could sense he felt cornered.

"Inventions? How cool," Darlene began. "But you really don't have to show me anything."

Marlene bounded over to her sister, obviously hiding another surprise.

"C'mon, you haven't met --"

Her sister was cut off by a loud explosion that rattled the underground base. Confusion swept over the two of them.

"Ringtail…" Skipper muttered angrily, storming over to the ladder.

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That's all for chapter one. Hopefully by the time I finish chapter two I'll have figured out how to put up another chapter..